Capturing live TV with Canopus ADVC?

[Deisel Weisel]

I want to capture live TV (EuroSport ~ PAL analogue satelite). Was wondering wether an ADVC-55 would do the job. Captured to DV format to PC's hd, via firewire. Is this okay?

Want to do unattended captures through-the-night.

I guess the other option is a DVD recorder, using dual-layer discs, might get 4hrs (but at inferior quality). Or DVD recorder with built in hard-drive capture. ADVC might be the cheapest option, plus I'm not restricted to 4hrs.

[DB83]

A common misconception.

The canopus ADVC range 55,110,300.... are NOT capture devices. They are Analogue/Digital Video Converters. No software is included other than a basic program to control the unit from the PC.

You can do what you suggest by running audio and video cables from your satellite receiver to the ADVC and then by firewire to your PC.

But you do need some recording/scheduling software - Cyberlink does one and I'm sure there are many others. Also be aware that a proposed recording of DV video will consume 13 gig for every hour of recording.

But if you just want to record and play back, a dvd-recorder even at LP (4 hour) mode will give quite acceptable quality. Believe me. It's my record mode of choice. But nothing longer than that.

I don't think that dvd-recorders will record on to DL-media. Mine certainly will not.

[Deisel Weisel]

Thanks for the info

[jimmalenko]

I've got an ADVC-100 and use it for exactly this purpose - I use ScenalyzerLive to "capture", which has a start/stop timer feature inbuilt.

[hech54]

Looking to capture The Australian Open eh?

[Deisel Weisel]

Looking to capture The Australian Open eh?

Correct! All the lovely ladies in their short skirts

[redwudz]

There are a few DVD recorders that can use DVD-DL discs for recording. My Pioneer 633 does. But the discs are a bit expensive to use for that purpose.

Timed recording with the ADVC units may be a little difficult, but if you have a program that can do that and lots and lots of hard drive space, it should work fine.

[hech54]

Looking to capture The Australian Open eh?

Correct! All the lovely ladies in their short skirts

I'm clearing out HDD space as we speak for the Aussie Open.

Do yourself a favor and go on Ebay and get a used Hauppauge PVR - 250 or 350
like I did....download the software and drivers for free from Hauppauge and do it that way.
I think you still have time...

[SmokieStover]

Looking to capture The Australian Open eh?

Correct! All the lovely ladies in their short skirts

I'm clearing out HDD space as we speak for the Aussie Open.

Do yourself a favor and go on Ebay and get a used Hauppauge PVR - 250 or 350
like I did....download the software and drivers for free from Hauppauge and do it that way.
I think you still have time...

Will new work?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116609

[hech54]

Will new work?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116609

That one?
No....we are in PAL-Land.

[StinkyWheaselTeats]

I have the Hauppage 250 as well as the ATI Theatre 550 installed in my machine. It’s running 24/7. (I record 2 stations at once often for 2 or 3hour lengths. On occasion I record TV for 6-8 hrs at a pass. I have a Pentium 4 3.0GHZ with 4GB ram but it has run fine with 2GB. )

The biggest issue seems to be that there needs to be a enough free hard drive space (>30%) for the card to capture optimally although I’ve been able to capture with less.
I believe the picture quality on the Theatre 550 is superior to the Hauppage card– they have 2D and 3D comb filters. I’ve also seen the Theatre 650 and would trade it in a second for my Hauppage card. You can also get the 550/650 in a PCI express versions.

I also believe the Theatre 650 works with PAL- not sure about the 550.
http://ati.amd.com/products/theater650pro/index.html

I use Contig & PowerDefragmenter GUI for a fast defrag of my hard drive
as I tend to have about 40-GB of unwatched recordings on a 250GB hard drive at any given time.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/Power-Defragmenter.shtml

[edDV]

Open short skirts? Got my attention.
Where does one tune this Aussie Open?

Btw. I use my ADVC to overnight record movies when I have a new drive with tens of gigs. You can limit capture time in WinDV by setting frame count limit. ScenalyzerLive is better for start/stop control.

[hech54]

Actually the Australian Open starts Monday I believe...OK...scrap the Hauppauge/Ebay idea.